Can Brazil’s Shattered Economy Afford Its Lavish First Lady?

Brazil has a new first lady, a woman of lavish tastes and a high-end lifestyle - and someone the country’s tumbling economy can hardly afford.

For its report on Brazil's new first lady, Veja magazine chose a rather curious headline: "Marcela Temer: Bela, recatada e 'do lar,'" which translates to "Marcela Temer: Beautiful, demure housewife."

The words created great waves of resentment as well as ridicule in Brazil.

“This is to contrast Dilma [Rousseff],” said Sonia Correa, the coordinator for the local website Sexuality Policy Watch. “This is how Veja aligns with many of the guys that have taken over power at this tragic moment. Part of them are very happy with the idea of returning women to their natural places, so to speak.”

But the first lady is much more than that — she is apparently a spoiled, overprivileged woman without any care for her country or its people.

Brazil's acting Vice President Michel Temer stepped to the helm of leadership after the senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff, pending an impeachment trial.

He has a lot on his plate — saying Brazil isn’t going through the best of times will be an understatement. He has to tackle the menace of Zika virus, rescue Latin America’s largest economy from its worst recession, win the trust of his people and pull off the Summer Olympics.

Brazil's interim government under Temer plans to radically cut public spending and take "tough measures" in order to lift the country out of its economic crisis.

Economy minister Henrique Meirelles told media the government planned to tighten spending, target tax loopholes and go over public contracts with a "fine-toothed comb."

Brazil is facing inflation and unemployment rates over 10 percent.

But what is selling like hot cakes is not his capabilities to shoulder the burdens of a faltering nation but the news of his wife, Marcela Temer, a former beauty pageant contestant.

“She insists on nothing but the best, whatever the price. And what Marcela Temer wants, Marcela Temer gets,” claims the Daily Mail as they add NYC shopping trips, two maids and an extravagant lifestyle to her list of vices.

The new first lady apparently has no qualms about spending the public's money on herself as well as her family. She stays with her daughter in Brasilia along with the nanny, a cook, two maids and a team of elite bodyguards.

There’s a $2,183,850five-bedroom mansion for her mother and younger sister in the capital Brasilia, so they could be close by.

Then, there is the full-time army of staff at their house in Sao Paulo, even though they only visit it on holidays.

What did the family do to celebrate Brazil's Children's Day? Temer, her son and mother went on a shopping holiday to New York and another to Miami.

In addition to that, to guarantee a quiet meal with her husband at the exclusive Antiquarius restaurant in Sao Paulo, she had it closed it for the entire evening.